Heller and Arisman are two School of Visual Arts (NY) professors who have achieved much in their careers. The conversation/interview between them is the strongest, most educational and most inspiring part of the book.

Brad Holland writes a detailed (but dry) description of the history of stock houses, the direction they are moving in now and how that relates to working artists.
Educational.

A very large portion of the book is a collection of art excercises useful to teachers creating curriculum or artists without the ability to direct themselves in the production of work. I found this area to be mildly interesting, but quite useless to me as an illustrator.

Teachers often tend to create excercises they would do very well themselves, but don't necessarily draw out the uniqueness of the individuals they are teaching. Success as an artist is following your own values of what a successful peice of art or illustration is.

I would have liked to read the perspectives of a more varied cross section of artists in addition to the New York city old guard. There is so much innovation happening in this field. To bemoan the fact that things aren't what they were, shows a lack of awareness of what the younger generation of artists do. Jump fences.

"I design my students to destroy me."
John Maeda of MIT Media Lab

"You are the next Picassos."
Sheridan College Faculty addressing the class in my foundation year 5 years ago.

My first thought when I really got into this book was "finally. An outlook on the career of an illustrator neither negative nor overly optimistic, but realistic and helpful." Being an illustration major I have several misconceptions about the field of illustration that were cleared up pretty quickly. I found the interview with Thomas Woodruff particularly insightful in the case of the illustration as low art issue, and I laughed my head off at Brad Holland's satirical lesson on art terminology. My advice is to buy this book not to decide whether or not illustration is the path for you, but to make sure you have a grasp on what you're getting into.

This book is great. It provides several different perspectives on the teaching of illustration today. Since alot of Illustration is taught by working illustrators it provides their first hand experience with illustration and the industry today. It ranges from lists of supplies one might need for a particular course taught, which i found trivial, but other pages are full of inspirational discussions on illustration by leaders in the field. I am a working illustrator, and love the art of illustration and reading this book has proven very worthwhile.

A better Ruth biography is Robert Creamer's "Ruth: The Legend Comes to Life." Smelzer's book is a little too scholarly. He treats his subject as if it were a frog to be dissected. As I read on, I found myself skipping over the parts where the authors opinionated observations began to get in the way of his believability. After a while they just became tiring, and I put the book down.

Some legends are larger than life. Some legends are made up. Then there's Babe Ruth, than man by which all other baseball players are measured, even today. George Herman Ruth comes to life in this riveting, yet easy to read biography by Marshall Smelser.

You follow the bambino from his early days at St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys to his early days with the Boston Red Sox. You read about his turmoil with the fans, his trade to the New York Yankees, that later became the curse of the Bambino.

Smelser's accounts of Ruth's life from his first wife to the run ins with Yankees manager Miller Huggins to the called shot in the 1934 World Series and so many others, will have laughing on minute and on the brink of tears the very next.

I have always been a great Babe Ruth fan; so reviewing this book was a no brainer. Smelser writing style made it easy for me to read along and finally get a true picture of the man so many either loved or hated. I would highly recommend this book to any serious baseball fan!

It is a book about a hero that evrybody thought was perfect. In this book you get to see the life behind the face. There are so many legend and this book so the truth and tells you the miths.

If you're looking for a Christian-based book, this may be for you. If not, this is not the book for you. Since I didn't read the book, I did not want to rate this at all, but the field required it. Upon recieving the book and glancing through it, I instantly knew it wasn't for me. I now get to deal with the aggravation of returning a book I would not have purchased if I knew this information, hence this review.

I can't imagine having the audacity to give a one-star review to a book you haven't even read. Yes, this book does have a definite Christian point of view. All books have a point of view. That's the reason for editorial descriptions and back of the book blurbs--they tell you where the particular work is coming from. Actually, I would describe myself as a liberal Christian, yet I found Strom's book to be exceedingly helpful, scripture quotes and all. Some were really comforting. Others were not particularly helpful to me, so I simply skipped over them. But the best thing was the information Strom packed into that book. It was more than I had hoped for. And coming from her own experience made it so alive, relevant and moving; more than once it brought me to tears. I just wish the former reviewer had taken the time to read the book. He or she may well have found that everything Christian isn't bad after all.

Almost 20 years ago, I lost my first wife to colon cancer. I wish I'd known then what I've learned from Kay Marshall Strom's excellent "Caregiver's Survival" book. Like many people suddenly caught up in the role of caregiver, I was unprepared mentally, physically, and emotionally for the role. I did my best then, but it was far short of what I could have done for her, for the children, and for myself--had I only known. My hope now is that this book will find its way to where it's needed: to those facing the prospect of providing the primary care for a loved one in failing health, so that this extremely painful journey can be made more tolerable by Ms. Strom's tender, Christian insights and advice. She connects to the reader by laying bare her own doubts and hardships in more than 7 years of caring for her terminally ill husband. Her book is filled with the dignity, respect, and hope that, through God's inspiration, can be developed in even the most hopeless of cases.

"Certain Poor Shepherds" was given to me as a Christmas gift by a friend several years ago. I treasure this boook and have gone back and read it several times over. I have also purchased it several times over as a Christmas gift to friends. It is a moving tale from the animals' point of view and although I consider this a story for adults and teens, it definitely requires a reader who has a love for animals and for fiction that taps into one's imagination.

This book is a little treasure and one of my favorites. It's the story of the night of Christ's birth as perceived by the animals. It is told with great sensitivity by reknowned animal lover Elizabeth Marshall Thomas and as such it is filled with eye-opening empathy and poignant beauty. It has an interesting take on angels as seen by animals, showing them to be very non-human and free of human stereotypes. Perhaps our perceptions of ourselves do color our perceptions of angels as well. It taught me a lot about the way animals might perceive the strange, crude doings of humans and helped me view my relationships with animals with more thoughtfulness. In that sense alone, it is a worthy addition to any library and especially to a holiday collection. I love this book very much. The hard cover is out of print but is pleasingly compact and makes a wonderful heirloom that is worth searching for. This paperback edition is nicely affordable and will make a perfect gift for anyone who loves and lives with animals.

This is one of the most wonderful stories I have ever read. I read it every year. It brings back the true meaning of Christmas.

It is sad, but very beautiful. My husband gave it to me on Christmas Eve when it was first published, which also makes the book very special. I have a dog named Sabrina, which reminds me of Lila.

I was disappointed to learn that a publisher like Prentice Hall would ship a book without scanning the CD-ROM for viruses. The book content looks very good but it is not worth buying a book, installing the CD-ROM only later to find it trashed your computer. Thank goodness my scanning software caught it in time. Granted, Prentice Hall will exchange the CD-ROM for a new one, but they should have mentioned that in their statements here at Amazon.

This is a exteremly good book. I liked his approach of explaining every thing from
DOS and unix perspective and connecting to Win32 and MFC. I am a dos and x-windows
programmer. I did not got a chance to working in any win32 programming. Now like
most of others forced into the wintel world. This book gives excellent insight of
win32 and MFC. The examples are very good.

Another interesting thing is his approach to the class wizard. I have tried to use
class wizard before reading the book. I hated class wizard. I like to
know the every line in my program. I would prefer to type it myself. This book starts
with the concept of typing the code and slowing moves into class wizard. This books
explains want exactly class wizard does. It made me really comfortable with class wizard.

Very happy with this book. If you're a multi-platform professional who is looking to learn, Know and deliver product using MFC in the least amount of time, this is the ticket.

Pros:

-Good, "show me" examples. Nothing left out.

-Organizes and enhances, not repeats, the VC++ documentation

-Covers both MFC -AND- Visual Studio's app tools, which are tightly intertwined.

- Covers a lot of 'professional' techniques needed to ship real product, like tweaking stock classes by self-drawing, etc.

Cons:

- Wish it were longer.

- The author constantly spews about how Wonderful MFC is. Every fifth sentence talks about how great, easy, powerful, simple, etc the facet of MFC being discussed is. Either the author's never used another framework before, or he's Bill's love slave. Now that the book's done, send him back over to Sales. Please.

That said, it's still a fine book.

The easy-to-use guide and coins are a nice feature to this book, but in the edition I got, the Casting of the Coins section contradicts itself. Makes it rather confusing for someone who is a beginner.

This is a great introduction to the I-Ching. It is easy to read and understand, includes 3 coins, is nicely illustrated and the interpretations are consistent with other, more complicated, I-
Ching books. I'm buying a second copy to give as a gift. I have quite a few books on the I-Ching and this one ties for the lead.

The I Ching can be an extremely complex subject, but Chris Marshall has simplified it and made it very accessible without compromising the philosophy or depth of this ancient Chinese system of divining the future. This book includes a brief history, easy-to-follow instructions, clear interpretations of the trigrams as well as three coins. This really is the best possible introduction to the I Ching.

Thanks to Lorna Marshall, these ruminations on the actor's art are organized and brought together with discussions of method so that it is conversational and discursive, yet still coherent. Yoshi Oida discusses eastern techniques for the western artist, putting western ideas about acting into relief and offering useful tools. Some may find discussions of technique only whet the appetite for what the book does not offer - a more systematic approach to working on character, text, and partner work. The book serves more for inspiration than training, though Oida does make many practical suggestions for warming up and preparing for the work. Oida has the background and experience - especially his work with Peter Brook's truly international theatre - to transcend east and west; and his love for the craft of acting, for precision as well as freedom, make this required reading for acting students and teachers.

I am a professional actor/dancer/physical theatre performer person and this book is an incredible help. Yoshi breaks down the whole act of being on stage into very small, manageable parts: preparing, standing, walking, breathing, etc. It encourages the actor to take time to sense every moment on stage, to let oneself become invisible in the character. An inspiring read.

Yoshi Oida, brillant Japanese actor (seen in "The Pillow Book") and stage director has given us a manual for acting. In it however, are many other invaluable techniques for living and for being.

I'm a professional singing actor, and these techniques and exercises for standing, walking, seeing, breathing, etc. are principles that I grasped immediately but think about practically every day. A must-own for singers, actors, dancers and stage animals of all kinds. I give this four stars not because it doesn't deserve the five-star rating, but because I would to think that there are maybe only 2 or 3 five-star books in the history of the world, and I would prefer not knowing what they are.

This volume (as well as the series in general), is somewhat helpful for application of the text, but it certainly should not be used in isolation. I found this one to be rather shallow in that it gives little time to the historical situation in the text. A better commentary that includes extra focus on application, but without diminishing original meaning and history, is the NIV Application Commentary on Luke by Darrell Bock.

This commentary is the third one written on Luke by the same author. It focuses on contemperary application of Luke's message. One might need another (more detailed) commentary to determine the original meaning of the text. Those with necessary training in the Biblical Greek should consult his two-volume commentary published by Baker.

This is a great resource for preparing sermons on Luke, or even for just reading along while you read Luke in your own home. It's easy to read, and gives valuable insights. I'm glad I bought it.

The reviewers who confuse the will to fight, destroy, kill. maim the target, your enemy (him/her) miss the point. If you can't hit an area or point target why shoot? It is not necessary to "see" an enemy, "battle drills" teach instinctive, reflex, effective (accurate) fire instantly when attacked. But, even area fire must be accurate (in the area) to be effective. It is accepted doctrine to fire at a window, or base of a tree etc. if that is where the enemy is or is likely to be. The criticism of Marine known distance training vs. "train-fire" (a pre-vietnam term) totally misses the point that you must master your weapon before you move to advanced or combat firing. I speak from the experience of a national match target shooter, marine infantry leader in combat, and review of british, french, and german small arms doctrine as well as training. The totally blind "hosing" of automatic M16(or any other weapon) fire over paddy dikes or around the corner of buildings achieves no effect on the enemy if it isn't hitting where it is intended. Marshall repeatedly points out the fact that men he interviewed felt detached and uninvolved. In many cases they were physically exhausted. Implicit in this "men against fire", and "the soldiers load..." are a number of factors concerning motivation, ferocity and espirit that Marshall only partly addresses. Although he does identify some of the negative influences. In particular his subjects were the US Army and its soldiers, understandable as that was his service and his charter. In particular he points out that direction to fire from leaders was absent. In virtually every case the PFCs, Corporals, Sergeants etc. were not actively leading, directing the rifleman that Marshall interviewed. A fuller understanding of the overall problem would be gained if, at a minimum, one also read "This Kind of War" about Korea. Trying to extrapolate one dreadful incident such as "Blackhawk Down" into a conclusion concerning all small arms marksmanship training/tactics does a dis-service to the actual causes of that disaster and fails to do justice to the seriousness of that particular problem. A very definitive study of the problem of weapons types, firing and effectiveness was done by the British after the failed commando raid on Tobruk in WWII. In essence everyone fired but the weapons mix was wrong. Gaining "fire-superiority" by fighting as a team remains the crux of the problem. The army structure Marshall studied was the squad not the smaller more cohesive fire team or german assault groups of WWI and WWII. On all three of the occassions that I have read men against fire, at various stages of my life, one principal conclusion I have retained is that the conclusions and recommendations lack force and are general. The value of the book is in the documentation of the incidents and the settings and outcome. The conclusions all involve military principals that pre-date gun powder. The goal remains that of insuring the fervent, unwavering belief in the heart/mind of the soldier that it is the enemy who must suffer, be maimed and whose destiny is to die and be destroyed.

This is quite an interesting book. It was written by a American Officer who served in Europe and the Pacific as a combat officer in the Second World War. For some reason he researched the fire level of American troops. That is the number of Americans who used their weapons in combat. He did this by speaking to individual soldiers after engagements. He found out the rather startling fact that only 25% of troops fired their weapons. The 25% included all who fired their weapons even if they fired them only once. He found that soldiers who had more responsibility, say those who had been allocated machine guns or anti tank weapons were more inclined to fire and those least inclined to fire were rifle men.

The author discusses these findings in some depth in the military context. His approach is aimed at working out strategies to ensure that in a future combat soldiers will use their weapons more efficiently. However he discusses the issue of why soldiers don't use their weapons at some length. He finds that one of the main reasons is the socialization that people have had in American society and how they are affected by the taboos against killing and violence. He suggests that the failure to shoot was unrelated to cowardice as many of the soldiers who did not shoot were in other respects brave and willing to place themselves in danger.

The author discusses a number of ways of overcoming what he saw as the problem. He was of the view that the major problem relates to the nature of modern battle. In previous wars soldiers have tended to be bunched and close to NCO's or Officers. With the advent of modern weapons most soldiers are isolated from command and their fellows. He noted that both German and Japanese soldiers tended to talk amongst themselves almost constantly in combat situations were as Americans did not. He formed the view that conversation was positive in a number of ways. It allowed individual soldiers to know that there were others around and it also created feelings of obligation and support. The tactic of silence on the other hand meant that soldiers became isolated unaware if others were around and fell quickly into despair. In fact the key seems to be the group dynamics of the soldiers unit. Training cannot turn normal people into cold blooded killers but it can build up a sense of belonging and this will lead to individual soldiers fighting to protect their buddies. This is complex and involves the relation between soldiers and also the relations between officers and those they command. The author suggests that during operations soldiers should be told the locations of the positions they fight over and to some extent their importance. While not suggesting jingoism appeals to their role and duty are important.

During the Second World War military training had been on a fairly old model. That is by repetition to create an automatic reflex of obedience. This method is ancient and derived from the time of Frederick the Great. It was designed to ensure fast fire rates when armies used muskets and stood shoulder to shoulder in battle. The crux of this book is that soldiers trained by this method failed when they were separated from their officers and fellows. It suggests that training should involve high standards of discipline but it should aim at training individual soldiers in such a way that they can cope with taking on individual responsibility.

The book is quite short and it is a very interesting book to read on a number of levels. The first is that it dispels a number of myths about the nature of man. The second is that it is a fascinating study of small scale warfare. One of the more interesting books I have read in some time.

This book, together with the After-Action Review (AAR) system of asking for unvarnished observations of all battle participants and his book, "The Soldiers Load and the Mobility of the nation" are SLAM's greatest contributions to the defense of freedom. However Men-Against-Fire (MAF) is his most controversial and led to his near destruction as an authority a few years back by revisonists jealous of his life's body of work and unwilling to let their macho image of the American marine or Soldier suffer any scrutiny. Its tragic that SLAM was actually there and most of these revisionists were not; and it all hinges on his statement of truth that in modern automatic weapons swept battlefields MOST MEN DO NOT FIRE their weapons. How can they? The minute they take aim, they are hit by enemy fire, injured and killed. Instead of dismissing SLAM like most can do to his "Soldier's Load", read "Blackhawk Down!" and mark every time a Ranger or a Soldier is hit by unshielded enemy fire that reaches out and damages the minute the bullet can fly to impact. Do this, and you will see that its not a "slam" (pardon the pun) on the American Soldier its a reality of the "death ground" (re: Col Dan Bolger's book by the same name) that we have yet to solve at the dawn of the 21st century. How important is this book?

We lost the war effort (notice I chose my words carefully) in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia because of our poor ability to overcome enemy fire resulting in casualties which resulted in the American public/policy makers "throwing the towel in" amplified by media images. This is 4th Generation warfare; welcome to the modern era!

The premise of SLAM's book written in a state of WWII and Cold War urgency is that in the face of enemy fire SOME MEN WILL BE PINNED DOWN BY IT. Those that are not need to know this (cross-talk) and using terrain masking, IMTs and fire/maneuver tactics advance on the enemy and defeat the enemy to relieve pressure on the unit in trouble. To condition men to fire when threats appear, SLAM helped introduce the "TRAIN FIRE" concept of pop-up targets that teach Soldiers in the U.S. Army to even in a state of fear the thing to do is to FIGHT and FIRE to knock the threat down. This is why the Army uses pop-up targets in rapid fire succession and not the slow, predictable known distance range firing that marines think is all the rave because their last targets are a bit farther out. We are not training to fight from WWI trenches, or at least we shouldn't be if we are using our time right. In Somalia on October 3, 1993, the rapid fire capability of U.S. Army Soldiers was all they had to erect a "shield" for them from swarms of enemy. Fighting is a conditioned reflex that has to be built into our men, otherwise men will POSTURE (go through the motions of firing to appease their peers) or FLEE or SURRENDER as LTC David Grossman's works on killing verify. To fire effectively, one must AIM and as SLAM shows it must be against likely AREAS where the enemy soldier might be, not an expectation that he will appear for a sure-shot as we see constantly in Hollywood.

The thing that is objectionable in MAF is its seen by too many as a panacea---its actually a "band-aid" to the problem that we have had unshielded infantry unable to advance in the face of enemy fire for centuries even though we have the armor technology to shield infantry by a weapons gunshield and an air-deliverable, tracked Armored Fighting Vehicle (AFV). There are times on the battlefield where EVERYONE IS PINNED DOWN BY ENEMY FIRE--especially if infantry lacks a shield or AFVs supporting them. SLAM has stated the problem well and given us a temporary solution, but not the final solution. Its up to us to stop bickering over SLAM's status, and write the concluding chapter of MAF for our generation or else we are headed for another geostrategic defeat because our men are ill-equipped to advance against enemy fire and win with light casualties because we are in a state of denial wasting billions on posturing air/sea forces.

I did not totally enjoy The Bridge To Cutter Gap. The book is not that exciting and is not very adventurous either. It is pretty good but not the most interesting book I have ever read.

This book is an excellent choice to read to little girls, age 5-10 and for girls learning to read. It doesn't use very high level vocabulary, and each book is short. If you really want to enjoy the story premise, you should read the orginial "Christy." These books are enjoyable for a really light read, but nothing more. The craftmanship isn't nearly as high as the original "Christy"...but give at least the first book a try.

C. Archer shows why she became the best-selling author of the Animorphs series. This is a lucid, intelligent adaptation of Catherine Marshall's masterpiece, "Christy." Archer makes the content easier, but she never compromises the beautiful original book. I have read all twelve volumes of Archer's Christy series and each book is terrific. The true essence of Christy, a story of one young woman's faith, courage and romance is captured beautifully here.